Dear diary, I'm in love (Leland Chapman)
by traicionado
Summary: Kate barely gets rid of alcohol and drugs by moving away from them to Hawaii. She wants to change her life for the better, but how easy is it for her to start a new life, stay sober and fall in love at the same time?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Let me tell you something about myself. Everything that could possibly go wrong in one person's life did go wrong for me. You know when two big tectonic plates crash? Like in, I don't know, Japan? It causes earth quakes and tsunamis and buildings collapse, people are dying and there's fire everywhere. That's me, right there. A disaster. _

_When I was born, at home pretty much without any modern equipment or meds that one would need for delivering a baby, my dad looked at me once and saw that I was not a boy. Disappointed, old school as he was, he took off, no one knows where. Or that's what I was told. I don't even know if he is alive anymore, and – to be honest – couldn't really care either. My mom was miserable when he left. And she was miserable because of me too. An uninvited guest to ruin their oh-so-happy marriage. So she took off too, to heaven. She went and got herself killed, with pills and liquor, just like that. And I was still the pathetic bundle who cried in the crappy and filthy living room. _

_I was taken to about a billion different foster homes, and from the moment I learned to walk and talk they all wanted me out before the month was over. I wasn't really a model child. I ran away every chance I got, took food without permission (what a crime), didn't go to school much or dress up like a good girl would've. I didn't go to church, or stay silent when I was forced to go. I did everything I could to get everyone to hate me, because I hated everyone too._

_When I was 16, I ran away for good. I should have left sooner, I thought back then. Now I'm happy I didn't. I slept in cars in the junk yard, washed dirty dishes in restaurants for money, and stole food when all of the money was spent. I washed myself in the city river, when I remembered. Nobody cared about me, but that was fine. I didn't care about anyone either. Around my 18th birthday in the summer of 1996 came the bad boys, the booze and the heavy shit. At that point, all that really mattered was the meds, the sex and the drinks. I wanted to be high and drunk all the freaking time, and when I was sober enough to realize what I have become, which was hardly never, I hated myself. I never did anything to change, though. And this lasted for years, and years_.

_But the good thing about hitting rock bottoms is that there is only one way to go from there. One day, a couple days after my 24th birthday, after another rough night filled with coke and bad, cheap vodka I somehow woke up in a dirty alley. I had been sleeping in a card board box. No idea how I got there, or where I was. I saw a lady in her fifties, who was taking out her trash. She saw me too. She looked at me with pity for a while and went back inside from the same back door she had come from. The she came back out a couple minutes later, a big steaming bowl of hot chicken soup in her one hand and a furry grey blanket in the other. She sat down next to me, put the blanket around me and made me eat the whole soup._

_That was about two and a half months ago. And I have been clean and sober every single day of those very long weeks. That very same lady, who helped me there at the alley, helped me to get on my feet. Her name was Bridget and she ran a self-financed AA-clinic. I got to sleep at the cellar in a real bed and eat with her, in exchange for helping at the clinic. I cleaned the place and went to buy supplies for her. But what she thought back then was the most important part was the fact that I helped others by telling them my story. She called it the holy trinity of helping; I helped her, I helped them, and I helped myself._

_Then she passed away, in early October 2002. There was a cancer she never told me about, and I cannot blame her. It's not like I ever told her much about myself either. I knew even before she died that Bridget was not gonna be there for me forever and I needed to get a place, and a life, of my own. I had been saving every single penny I could get my hands on. With the money I bought a plane ticket to as far as possible and got a job at a pet store._

_I now have a place, a small studio apartment with one bedroom and a tiny bathroom, but it's mine. I have money to buy food and equipment to actually cook. I have enough underwear for every day of the week, and a little bunny to take care of, imagine that. The bunny is now the only bad boy in my life._

_It's still not easy, and will never be for a person with the past like mine. Every once in a while I see ambulance and police vehicles passing with whistles blowing, and I instantly wonder if the victim is someone I know. It never is, I don't know anyone from here. Sometimes it drives me insane. I see the dead body they take to the hearse and think that I recognized the face, or read the news from the paper and the name of the dead guy sounds familiar. Whether I knew them or not, I selfishly think that it could have been me. But I also think that at least someone has it worse than me._

"So, dear diary" I whispered to myself. "Now you know who I am."

I closed the little black book and hid it to the back of my night stand's top drawer. I stopped to look out of the window. I sighed, the scene from my window was so freaking beautiful. The black bunny jumped to my couch/bed, that was basically his territory since I always sat on the floor, but he jumped out a second later when the door bell rang.

"What the.." I wondered, it's not like people pop on my door every now and then, no one even knows, or cares, where I live. I went to the door and checked from the mail box to see who it was. All I saw was a big buckle of a belt with a silver star of it. Reminded me of the stars the sheriffs had in the Wild West.

"Who is it?" I asked from the mail box and immediately felt stupid. The man on the door bent over when he realized that my voice came through the hole. He was looking at me curiously, and that made me feel even more stupid. Or I think he was looking at me, but I couldn't tell for sure because he wore big black sunglasses.

"Dog Chapman, the Bounty Hunter" was the answer to my question._ Who?_ Was I supposed to know him? The man had a low, husky voice, like he had been drinking too much whisky. "Do you know where Ronald is?"

"Who's Ronald?"

"Ronald Lee Walker. Listen, can you open the door, please? It hurts my back to speak to you through the mailbox." I heard someone laugh in the back, a younger man. There were more of them. There was no way I would let these people in just like that, they could be anyone.

"No." was my strict answer. "How many are there of you?"

"Me, my fiance Beth-"I heard a quite hi, "and my son Leland. So the three of us." _Liar._ I knew it the second he finished his sentence.

"There's more. How many?" I insisted. There was a short pause, apparently during which they were trying to think for a suitable answer.

"There's my other son and my daughter downstairs. I promise you that's it. Could you open the door now?"Still lying.

"No. You have three there, two downstairs and three standing next to the ugly cars outside my window. That's eight against one. And I don't know who Ronald Lee Walker is."I replied, still speaking through the mail box with no intention of opening the door.

"Listen, can we show you a picture?" the man was talking again. I figured that maybe it's not dangerous to take a look. I stepped back from the door and they threw a mug shot from the hole. I looked at it for a while. In the picture there was a pale skinned guy, around my age or a bit older. He had blond or ginger hair, but it was hard to tell from the black-and-white photo, and he had a tattoo in his neck, Chinese marking or something like that. Suddenly, staring at angry his eyes, I realized that I do know this man. I just don't remember from where. Definitely not from around here.

I opened my door but kept the chain lock closed. The man was standing tall now too. He had long, blond, tangled hair and much tanned skin, and some wrinkles. He was wearing black weaponry clothes and gloves. The guy was huge as a mountain. Behind him there was a lady with platinum blonde hair, strong make up and pink fake nails that looked like they were made for scratching people's face. Painfully. There was another guy too, a shorter and smaller than this Bounty Hunter, but he was standing in the dark so I couldn't see his face that well. I gave the mountain his picture back.

"_You_ have lied to me, and that son of yours looks like he could snap my neck any minute." I pointed at the dark figure further away in the corridor. "I will let your girlfriend in. For five minutes."They looked at each other, and Mr. Mountain said something to the walkie talkie.

"All right, honey. I will come."

I closed the door, unlocked the safety chain, and opened the door again. Beth, the fiance, stepped in and made herself comfortable on my couch. I shut the door.

"I have seen him." I said carefully. "But not in this state. And I don't think his name is Ronald."

"He might have used different names for sure, and ran across the country to get away from the local police departments. Do you know where he is now?" she started with the basic questions.

"I don't." And how could I? I didn't remember him that well, but I was damn sure it was not in this state that I had seen him. Beth looked like she understood why I had so little memory of him. She seemed like she had been through the same, at least almost the same.

"Okay, you see this Ronald is a fugitive. That means that he has failed to appear to court on a certain date, so we got to get him to jail." _Yes, thank you, I know what it means_, I almost wanted to tell her. "We checked through his records and papers and saw your name and a few others in some arrest paper from about three months back. We found out that you had moved in here from New York, where the arrest happened, and thought we could come and find out what you know."

"I have been clean for two and a half months, and remember everything from that time." I instantly said.

"That's great news. You should keep it that way." she encouraged me. "That would mean that the arrest happened right around the time when you got rid of that bad stuff, am I correct?"I nodded. "Do you remember the arrest? Where it happened, what happened?"

I do remember that, vaguely. . It was one of the few times I have actually been caught. I am fast and nimble of my feet, and I can climb, jump and run better than most of the cops. This time, I guess I climbed, jumped and ran my way into a dead end. I think the charges were insulting an officer in a situation where they tried to arrest someone else. Maybe this freaking Ronald. I called the officer names and tried to object the arrest and ran when they decided to arrest me too.

"The place would be of no use for you."I told her. "And I can only guess what happened."I was speaking the truth to her, even though I could have lied and led them out of the city and the state even. Her future husband lied to me, them little white lies of his. But why would I lie? I didn't know a damn thing about Ronald. The fact that I have been arrested with him once means nothing. I might as well tell them that. Beth could tell I was not lying.

"All right, then. Thank you honey." She stood up and was about to walk to the door, when she turned back around to me. "Listen, girl to a girl." she started with a small, mischievous smile on her face. "How did you tell my man was lying? I've known him for like 20 years and I don't still know anything that would give him up."

I smiled back at her. The question surprised and amused me. "He was talking too fast to be telling the truth. The first time, when he said that it was only the three of you, that was true and he couldn't lie about it because I saw you, but he was constantly thinking of another lie to tell me and when I asked about it, he had the answer ready. Someone who tells the truth always keeps a short pause, like a second, to consider what to say and how to say it." Experience talking. It apparently impressed her, though. She just smirked, nodded and went out.

_Jesus Christ, dear diary. Look at that. A bounty hunter in my home, looking for a fugitive. In my home! Guess the past hasn't really stopped haunting me yet. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

The sunlight wakes me up. My back is hurting from sleeping the whole night in a bad position. I check my bed and notice that I have been sleeping on a remote control. _Great._ It makes me wonder why I have a remote control to a TV that does not work.

I walked to the kitchen, not that far away from my bed, to get something to put in my mouth. I was starving, but my fridge was not gonna go easy in me. It was empty. I don't have a choice but to pull my long, dark brown hair up on a messy ponytail, change my lousy t-shirt from the night for my tight black top, grey sweatpants and my sneakers. Time to go grocery shopping!

The road to the closest grocery store is not that long, really, and listening to good music makes it even shorter. When I first found this mp3 of mine from a bench of a bus stop, I hated the music in it. It was too loud, too sad and too much everything else. But since my life was so boring anyway, music was a good way to get the time go faster. After realizing that I was just happy there was still some battery left. And with time I learned to love the songs.

Listening to music also makes people often unaware of what is happening around them sometimes. That's exactly what happened to me today.

I walked in to the parking lot, climbed over some metal fence and headed to the main entrance. I took my head phones off and suddenly woke up like from a dream when some man with a deep voice screamed to me. "Out of the way!" he yelled, but I froze in the middle of the parking lot rather than moved away. I didn't see where the screaming came from. But I saw familiar cars at the other side of the parking lot. Three black SUV's, the same that were parked outside my window yesterday.

Then I saw some guy running towards me. He was wearing a black hoodie and a dark baseball cap. There were three, four men after him. "They are never gonna catch him, they are too far away"I said to myself, never questioning who was the good guy, and who the bad. I didn't actually think anything else either. I just bolted.

I ran straight towards the escaping guy, the one I thought was the villain in this story, and he saw me do that. He changed direction, but I was faster than him, way faster. I could jump over obstacles, which he had to go around. It wasn't long before I reached him, so close that I could almost grab his jacket, but he was bigger than me and would throw me to the ground that instant he felt me touching him. Grabbing him was not an option. I had to try and make him stop some other way.

"Ron!" I screamed behind him, taking my chances. This guy might not even be the same they were looking for yesterday. There was even no way for me to see his face, or if he had the same tattoo on his neck than the guy in the picture. I did not recognize him. But the guy did slow down and looked behind him, probably because my girly voice was so different from the ones that were yelling to him before. He saw me, apparently knew me, and had time for "Katie?" before I jumped and pushed him down. The other runners where apparently right behind us, because it took no more than four, five seconds for them to get there and lock Ron with handcuffs.

I sat on the ground while they searched Ron. They found all kinds of pills and powders from his pocket, shit that I couldn't look at. Not yet, anyways. When they started to take him to the cars, one of the guys, the bounty hunter's son that was behind my door last night turned to me.

"You are pretty damn good runner." he said, smiling widely. I just smiled back at him._ That's a pretty damn nice smile you have_, I wanted to say but I held my tongue, and facepalmed myself when he was far enough.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

_Mark number, my darling diary._

_Don't really know where to start. Yesterday was wicked. The feeling, the rush of energy I got after bolting to chase Ronald was, well, awesome. I felt so proud of myself! I didn't feel so happy about myself even when I got my one month badge from Bridget. Or my second month badge. Simply wicked. What comes to the bounty hunters no, I have not them today, but I just got out of bed and the only thing I have seen is Mr. Bunny ruining my mat. Ha ha. No seriously, Saturday! My very first day off from the pet store for ages._

I checked my money box and counted my money. A wide smile came to my face as I kept counting, because the sum in the box was far more than I had expected. It was partly my salary from the pet shop, partly the pennies I saved in New York and partly the money I get from the state in support to be able to pay the rent. The truth is that I did not even know people would rent out apartments with as low amount of money that I am paying right now. That makes it easy to save money quickly.

I turned back to my book excited, already knowing what I would get with the money.

_New camera, here I come! And beach, and picnic snacks and cold drinks and palm trees and everything. Can't believe I have been living here for a week now and so far haven't been able to enjoy the beauty of this island. Or the shirtless, wet, surfing men. If you're into that kind of guys, I mean._

I got up from the bed and headed for the small closet I had in the corner of my living room. I got dressed up in my dark blue bikinis and put a very simple light blue summer dress on top, and ate a fresh breakfast of fruit salads and home backed bread, which I bought from the store yesterday after the arrest. I even had self made orange juice, this once when I could actually afford it. I hadn't felt that full for a while. I felt so full that I almost wanted to go back to my couch to wait till my tummy calms down, but the idea of a new camera exited me way too much to stay in one place more than two seconds.

A couple of hours later I had it. My very own systematic camera. Can't say that it was brand new because it wasn't. I bought it from a pawn shop, but the camera was fully working and had been used for only a couple of times. To me, it was perfect. I had always imagined how my first picture on my own camera would be from the beach, so that the picture would be filled with the colors; green of the palm trees, white and blue of the sky, brown of the sand and red of the flowers. A picture that would convince me that I really live in Hawaii, the island of fresh starts.

So to the beach it is. I soon found a decent spot for myself, half sunny and half shadow under a big tree. It was quite far from the water, but the scenery was perfect for the picture. I took the camera box from my bag and the camera out of the box, turned it on, aimed and snapped. There it was, just like I had always imagined.

After the most important and biggest task of the day, I lied down on my blanket and enjoyed the sun. I had my music playing and I was just simply relaxed. I thought of all the rich ass housewives of New York. They spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to relax in spas and treatments. Why don't they just move to Hawaii? I'm pretty sure even that there is no word for 'stress' in the Hawaiian language. I giggled to myself.

An hour or so had passed. I had been swimming in the cool blue ocean and returned to by blanket and towel. I laid on my stomach my face towards the road, when I saw something that made me feel weird. For the third time, in three days, I saw them cars. Black big cars parking one by one to the parking lot of the beach. _There is no way I'm gonna run after their fugitives today_, I thought. Absolutely no way.

But it seemed like I didn't have to. Mr. Chapman and Beth got out of the car, followed by their son Leland, and a young woman and another young man._ Dog and Beth's other children_, I figured. Then a couple of younger kids hopped out of the cars. They all had quite relaxed clothes instead of the weaponry vests I had seen them wearing two times already, and the girls were wearing dresses. It was almost weird to see them dressed up like normal people would, and I half expected from them to get the vests out of the car. But it was not the vests they pulled from the car, but surf boards for the two oldest sons. They all walked in one pack to the beach, found a spot big enough for all of them and settled there. The boys, big and small were the first ones to hit the water with their toys. The girls stayed put, changing clothes and organizing their blanket and spreading their snacks.

I was far enough, so they didn't see me. Or if they did, they would never have recognized me from the distance. I knew that for a fact, so I turned again on my blanket, let my music play and forgot the Chapmans. I would not let them bother my first, and only, day off.

My hours in the sun were simply perfect. I would stop by and get some cool drinks from the beach bar, I had my berries and fresh fruits and my music. I would swim time to time and just simply enjoy. I didn't even realize that the sun had started to set, and most of the people had already left the beach. I should too.

After this one last swim.

I took up, walked to the water and dived. I think I had burned my shoulders in the sun, but the water felt smooth and cooling. I floated in the water for a while, and dived deep under when a wave came crushing down. I felt like the ocean was all from me. I didn't have to worry about the surfer's hitting me, because I was far from the closest board. Or so I thought.

A figure came paddling on his board straight towards me. I pretended I didn't notice him, but he definitely had seen me and wanted to talk with me.

"Are you as good of a swimmer as you are a runner?" Of course, out of all the people on this island, it's Leland. He was paddling closer. He was wet from the surfing, and his long, black hair was tied up in a braid to be out of his way. His sunglasses he still had on. I wondered if he would ever take them off.

"I'm moved here from New York. We don't have oceans like this in New York."I continued floating until he was right there next to me. I was not in the mood to talk, or look at him scared I might drown if he would flash that model smile of his.

"You know, I wouldn't snap people's necks any minute." He said after a short pause and floated next to me on his board._ Of course he remembers every single word I have ever said._ I glanced at him and noticed his nicely figured tattooed arms.

"Back in New York I slept a kitchen knife under my pillow. Life has taught me to be careful." I said, looked at him and dived away. Without looking back I swam to the beach, packed my stuff and left.

_Dear diary, Not again. Oh no, not again. Are they seriously stalking me? Following me where ever I go as I was one of their fugitives? Three days, three times. Thank God I will go back to work tomorrow; there is no way they will come there, at least not on a Sunday. Though thinking of the way things have turned out recently, maybe I shouldn't be so sure. But I will not start living my life again so that I will have to stare over my shoulders every second to see if someone is there, around the corner ready to get me. That's a pleasure I will not give them._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Hi, darling" Meg called when she spotted me at the back room of the pet store putting on my work shirt. "How was your day off?"

"Relaxing" I said quietly, remembering the Chapmans and that short uncomfortable moment at the sea with Leland. I didn't really want to talk about it. I just wanted to forget all of it, and I didn't want Meg to start asking questions."Just great. Bought a new camera, want to see the pics I took?"

Megan is the closest I have for a good friend. She works with me at the pet shop. She is just adorable with her black hair and her pimples. She is silly, sometimes sillier than I could take, but she really wants to get to know me better, and she listens and helps. And I wouldn't really mind a friend. Bridget was more like a mother figure to me, may she rest in peace, but not a friend. But there was some things I would still like to keep to myself.

"Of course!" Meg squeaked in her silly voice. She put down the brown and fluffy puppy she was holding, and came to see the pictures. I showed her my perfect first picture, of which I was very proud of, and the other pictures I had taken. Suddenly, when we were going through the last pictures, there was a shot I had not taken.

"What the hell.." The words slipped from my mouth. In the shot, there were the faces of two guys. One familiar, one I had seen from a distance. If it isn't our very own surfer boy, and assumably his brother.

"Who are these?" Meg asked, thinking that the guys were my friends. That's not the question that should be asked, though, but: what is this picture doing in my camera? Or: How on earth did they do this?

"Just some people I know. Freaking jokers." I answered Meg, trying not to sound like I had no idea what was going on.

"Well, you really took some nice pictures. Maybe you should think about printing them into wallpapers or paintings. I would like to have one." Meg said. I smiled at her and put my camera back to my bag.

"I will make one for you for your birthday" I promised.

It was almost closing time and I had almost, but just almost, forgotten the random picture on my camera. I was helping one of the last customers to choose a tiny bunny, similar to the one I have myself, and Meg was at the counter taking in some last minute shoppers. Then she came behind the shelves.

"Katie, there's one of the guys from your picture, that friend of yours. Thought you might wanna come say hello." she said, silly as she was. Little did she know that saying hello to them was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do. I snapped, said to the customers that I would give them a minute to consider and almost ran to get my camera. When I reached the counter, I saw the other guy, and not Leland, that I had expected. Mr. Chapman was there too, with his fiance. Guess this other guy would serve my needs anyway. Mr. Chapman saw me.

"Hey, aren't you the girl who ran down Ronald Walker?" he said happily and came closer. Yet it was not him I was interested, but his son.

"What. The hell. Is this?" I put the camera in front of his face, showing the picture they had taken.

"Duane Lee, do you know each other?" Mr. Chapman asked his son, who was laughing, like the situation would have been funny. It wasn't. Duane Lee took the camera and showed the picture to his father.

"It was a just a joke. Leland thought you might find it funny."Duane Lee tried to explain.

"A joke? Are you serious, you take a picture of your freaking faces with my camera without asking! I helped you run down a fugitive once, because you were too slow to do it yourselves, and you see it's ok to go through my stuff and mess with my camera?"I hissed through my teeth because I did not want to disturb the customers.

"Ok, ok, calm down. I'm sorry, for my brother too. He apparently is an idiot." Duane Lee apologized.

"Apparently." I nodded. "But I accept your apology. Now, was there something you came to look for?" I asked from the father, turning away from his son.

"Yes, actually. We were looking for a puppy for my daughter, who has just graduated from college. Took her long enough, but she did it and deserves the dog she has wanted for so long." Mr. Chapman explained.

"Alright, then. A dog for Dog. Got it."

Eventually, after seeing a couple of small dogs, they decided to get a tiny, black and with Chihuahua. But they were not done with that. Beth came to me with Mr. Chapman when Duane Lee had taken the puppy to the car.

"Katie, do you have a minute?" Beth asked me. I had no idea what she wanted to talk about, but I certainly wanted to find out. Maybe it was something to do with why I kept running into them. I looked at Meg who nodded as a signal that she could close the shop tonight.

I turned back to Beth. "Sure, let me just get my stuff."So I did.

Outside the pet store there was a bench. I sat down there and Beth came next to me, looking serious. Her husband-to-be had his big black glasses to cover his eyes.

"You are fast, did you know that?" Beth started, but I was pretty sure she did not want to talk about my running abilities or speed. "And you could tell that Big Daddy here was lying, which is a skill not many have." I glanced at Dog quickly, hoping I didn't get him to any trouble by telling Beth how to catch him of a lie.

"You handled that bust nicely, even though you were half his size."Dog added. I was getting uncomfortable, and restless.

"Where is this going?"I asked both of them.

"Listen, we have a spot in our team." Beth explained. _Ok, right. What?_

"In your bounty hunter team" I specified.

"In our bounty hunter team, yes. Listen, with some training you would be a pretty nice add." Dog said. _A pretty nice add_, I repeated in my head the words he had just said. _To their bounty hunter team_. It took me a while to process it, like it was spoken in a language I did not know, and I thought of it silently in my head. They had seen me run and bust a big guy. They had seen me caught a man of lying, something they say not many people have been able to do. Had they really been following me, to see what else I could do? I am no superwoman, by any means. But apparently they had seen enough, and they had liked what they saw. It all seemed crazy as hell, but there was only one conclusion one could draw from this.

"You guys want to hire me?" I asked very quietly.

"In a nutshell." Beth said. "At first you would probably do some office work and physical training so that you would learn the business but when you get better and more professional, we would like to take you to the hunts."Take me to the hunts. To hunt bad guys. Run, hit people, handcuffs. The cool stuff you see on TV. And they are offering me to do that for living. Without further thinking, which I later highly regretted, I answered yes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I had a week. A week to get my stuff together and move from the middle part of the island to the south to Honolulu, were the Chapmans had their office. A week to do whatever I could to study and prepare myself for the business. I wanted to appear as a professional, even though I was not hired for my business knowledge. For seven whole days I saw no black SUV's, or none of the Chapmans whatsoever. I only talked to Beth on the phone when she was checking that everything was going smoothly or if she wanted to ask or tell me something important.

During that week my main focus was on the physical side. They had partly hired me for my speed, and fast I was when needed, but I needed to work on my stability and stamina, big time. I ran every day twice a day routes that would end up being 5 or 6 miles long. The last part I always ran as fast as I could. The nights I spent reading big, heavy books about the business and studying mental stuff and law.

By Sunday I felt I was as ready as I could have gotten in a week. It's not like they were gonna put me into a hunt the minute I would get to the office. I would still be in training, but at least they are not able the see all of the damage my fucked up youth years have done to my body.

The car came to the parking lot. _This is it, dear diary. I have no idea what I have put myself into. I can only hope this will not be another bad chapter in my life._

I dragged my stuff down the stairs to the front door. Duane Lee was there to help me with my bags.

"Thanks" I said simply, when he lifted my bags with his hand up to his shoulders.

"Damn, girl. You have rocks here or something?" he joked.

"Just clothes and books." I smiled as we walked to the car. There was only one of them, and no others than Duane Lee in it. That was just fine with me. He put my bags to the trunk and took the driver's seat. I sat next to him. I looked at him for a while after he started the growling engine and took off from the parking lot.

"What?" he asked when he saw me staring. I didn't turn my head away, just smirked.

"You look more like your father than your brother does." I answered. Duane Lee was taller than Leland, almost taller than his father as well. He had wide shoulders and a huge back. His arms were big too. I know that Dog has colored his hair blonde, so I'm guessing they have the same natural brown hair colour too. Duane Lee didn't have as small eyes than Dog, but the look on them was the same mixture of focus, toughness and kindness.

"Is that so?" Duane Lee said, when he stopped to the traffic lights.

"You and your brother don't look alike."

"Leland looks the same with my little sister Lyssa." he said.

"Yeah? Do you look like any of your siblings?"

Duane Lee thought about it for a moment while he was driving a small road that led to the highway past the airport. "The other kids are still too small to tell. I might, and might not." he answered. _Other kids?_

"How many are there, then?"

He laughed as if I had said something funny. "Dog has 14 kids."

"14?!"That's a big number. I had only seen three small kids on the beach, so I thought 6 would be close.

"Yeah. Or 12, actually. I'm the second oldest, Leland the third." I thought about it for a moment. He first said 14, then twelve. I could guess that they were..gone, but I dared not to ask more of it.

"They are not all Beth's are they?" Beth was not older than 37 or 38.

"No, they are not. The three youngest are. Me and Leland have the same mother, and Lyssa has a different one, and still I don't know why the two of them look like each other and I look like nobody" he laughed. I noticed that he laughed a lot. Even to the serious stuff he laughed.

"So..." I thought I should ask, but didn't know how to. I decided to just let it come out. "Are you all...bounty hunters?"

"Oh God, no. Just the three of us. The others are scattered around the world, we don't really know where they are." Somehow it was sad to think that Duane Lee had 13 siblings, and was in contact with five of them. The same time I was relieved for myself, because I knew it was not gonna be an office full of Chapmans when I get there.

Oh how wrong I had been, thinking like that.


	6. Chapter 6

I looked out the window then the car pulled to the parking lot of the office, after about a 30 minute drive from my old place. Duane Lee jumped out of the car and got my bags from the trunk but I didn't move. I just couldn't. I kept thinking about this, what did I get myself into, and why on Earth had I said yes?

"Are you coming, or what?" Duane Lee had gotten around the car to my side and was looking at me through my open window with a funny face. I wanted to say _no, I'm not going anywhere but back._ He opened my door and gave me his hand.

"It's really not that bad. You will be just fine." He encouraged me. I stared at him for a couple for a second, really wanting to believe him. I sighed, took his hand and let him lead me to the office.

"We're here!" he yelled, putting my bags down next to the door. The office was big, and looked like...well, like the Chapmans, I guess. There were a couple of dark brown leather arm chairs and a large couch on the room closest to the door. This room appeared to be more like a living room than an office with the fake green plants and coffee tables. There was a desk next to the door, and a white board. There were two more desks on the back, in a partly separated office room. The Chihuahua they had bought from the pet store was running around with her tiny little feet.

It was not necessary for the Chapmans to have all 14 kids present to have an office filled with their energy. There was Dog and Beth, Leland, an older man, three running kids and a young blonde woman, who I figured was Lyssa, the daughter. I instantly remembered what Duane Lee had said in the car about Lyssa and Leland's looks, and could agree, but just a little.

"Katie!" I heard Beth call my name. "Finally. Come on in, don't just stand there honey. Come meet everyone."For a short passing moment I thought all of the Chapman family was there after all.

Beth pointed at the older man. "That's Tim, Dog's brother." Tim nodded. He had the same long, black hair than Leland, though some grey hair too. He was wearing a dark baseball hat, black top and black and white camouflage pants. "Right here is our beautiful Baby Lyssa", she waved "And the little ones are Cecily, Bonnie and Garry-boy" she pointed the kids from the oldest to the youngest. Lyssa was really pretty, with her shoulder-long, curled golden hair and bright big blue eyes. There was no way I would ever have thought she was a bounty hunter. She dressed up like her step-mom, showing her skinny thighs but in a classy way. The kids didn't much pay attention to me, when they were running after the poor puppy.

"And Leland you already know." Leland was sitting behind the desk in the living room, nodding and smirking. It was really the first time I could take a good look at him. He was quite pale, and the black hair made him even paler. He really did look like he could snap someone's neck, just like that, but he also looked like he would give his seat to an old lady in the bus. Tough but kind, and an idiot, if I can trust the word of his brother.

"The picture was not funny." I told him.

"Yeah, it was." he said back, smiling and smirking. That smile is really ridiculous. Wide and perfect, heart melting. I couldn't look at that smile for long. If I did, I was pretty sure my knees would fail my trust and let me fall.

"Come on now, sit down" Beth told me and pointed on one of the free leather armchairs. Dog was sitting in one, and Duane Lee took a seat in the next. I didn't sit down in the chair, but on the floor next to Duane Lee. I never sat on the couch back home, either. I don't even know why I had a couch. And I don't know why I sat next to Duane Lee, maybe because he appeared to be a big teddy amongst the scary bears. The others looked at me for a while, wondering what I was doing but let me be.

"There's pizza coming soon. Hope you like meat." Beth smiled and winked at me and went to the office to answer some phone call. Not soon after that the pizza really came. They had a pizza for everyone, family size. I food looked and smelled delicious, even if the pineapple was a weird choice for topping to go with the meat, but I had absolutely no idea how I was supposed to eat the whole thing. It was huge.

The whole Chapman family gathered in the living room. Lyssa and the youngest kids sat down to the floor, just like I had. There was still room in the other chairs, so it was nicely done and I appreciated the gesture. She smiled at me while she took a bite of her slice.

Soon the talking got louder. Somehow everyone had some story of a hunt they wanted to tell me. Duane Lee had the craziest ones, though I figure he was exaggerating since his father and brother had something to correct in the stories every once and a while. The talking, laughing and simply the energy got me relaxed a little. I still stayed quiet if I was not asked something, shy as I was.

The night fell on us quietly. It was almost dark.

"I think I should go now" I said to Duane Lee as if to ask permission to go to my new home. He first looked down upon me and then outside the window.

"Alright. Do you need help with the bags?" He asked and got up from the chair. I stood up as well, looked at my two sports bags and then back at him. He understood that the amount of my stuff required no help. "Got it."

"Do you know the way?" Asked Beth.

"I do, Duane Lee showed it to me from the car. It really isn't that far."

"Right then, honey. Good night, see you tomorrow." she hugged me. They all wished me good night.

"Good night, sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite." added Leland from the couch. I glanced at him with a joking look that could kill, he flashed that famous smile of his and I went out of the door.

That smile still haunted me when I had settled in my new apartment. It was bigger, lighter and better than the one I had had in Wahiawa, and this was fully furnished. My old place was still unfinished when I left it. The new one I loved.

I crashed down to my bed, trying to wipe that stupid smile out of my head and fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

The alarm clock rang a quarter to eight. I did not press the snooze button, but got up immediately and remembered that I didn't have anything in the fridge to eat in the morning. Didn't matter, I was too anxious to eat anyways. I showered and put my hair up into a messy bun. Somehow I spend more time on my makeup and choosing my clothes that I would have usually done. I thought about putting on my burgundy shorts, but I thought that the length of them might be disrespectful. Then I remembered Lyssa's clothes, smiled, and pulled the shorts up. I picked a white top to go with the shorts, and a light brown round scarf.

I arrived at the office just before nine. Beth and Dog were already there, sitting at their desks.

"Katie, good morning." Dog said to me and came to hug me. "That's your desk right there." He pointed at the table where Leland had sat last night when I first came in. Dog showed me all the things I needed to know, and was surprised when I told the stuff I already had learned while studying independently. He smiled encouraging.

"Are you hungry?" he asked when left towards his own desk. "Catch!"he said and threw a big apple at me. I caught it.

"Whoo! Nice reflects!"

I ate the apple happily, and got a cup of hot chocolate from the kitchen when I saw that there was a fax on the machine on my desk. It was a warrant for an arrest. _The first one_. The same moment the boys came to the office, and a couple minutes later Lyssa came too. Their father advised them to go to the living room for a gathering. When everyone was there, sitting or standing, Dog put the mug shot to the whiteboard next to my desk. He asked the information from me, since I had it on my computer. That moment I really thanked God I had studied.

"Okay, so this guy...What's his name, Katie?" he asked.

"Keanu Iona" I answered. I had some trouble in pronouncing the name, but thankfully it was a short one. I have not been able to learn the Hawaiian language, so I made a deal with it; I would not try to learn, and the language would not make me look like a fool. Only one part of that promise was being kept.

I gave the details like the weight, height and the colors of his hair and eyes. He was 34 years old, and huge like a tower. He was charged with some fancy word that meant violence towards a spouse. The attack had included a weapon, of some sorts.

For the rest of the gathering I sat at my desk and sucked in as much information as I possibly could. The team decided to gear up at the office, whatever that meant, because the last known address and the address of the co-signer were quite near. They pulled up some weaponry clothing and cans of mace. They placed their badges where they usually had them, around their necks, attached to their vests or in the buckle of their belts. They took a couple of huge weapons from the big wooden trunk in the corner of the living room. I must have looked horrified when I saw the guns, because Dog laughed.

"They are not real, darling. Just pepper ball guns. Doesn't injure, but hurts like hell." he explained. I nodded, not sure if I wanted to believe or not. I stood at the door when they left. Leland and Duane Lee turned to wave at me before they went to their cars. _No gorgeous smile this time_, I noticed myself thinking, disappointed a little.

Hours passed by, and I started to get anxious. I had answered the phone a couple times, receiving hints of the fugitive. I called to give the information to either Dog or Beth, but it had been a while since the last phone call. During my otherwise quiet day I tried to learn more about their job, company and cases as much as I possibly could.

It was already around half past ten, when I finally decided to call it a day and go home. I phoned Beth, who didn't answer. I wrote a note on her desk saying that I had gone home and put on my jacket. I was just about to step out of the door when the cars pulled in. I stepped back to my desk and waited that the family got in.

Leland has the first to rush in. He took off his shirt, for some unbelievable reason and went to the toilet to splash water to his face. Dog and Beth came after them. Duane Lee's shirt and hair was wet.

"Hi darling, how was your day?" Beth came to hug me.

"What's going on?" I asked carefully, looking at Leland, who cursed by himself and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh, nothing dangerous. The boys were running after the fuge and had to use mace. They got all covered up themselves. Mace burns like hell and is difficult to get out from the eyes, but there's no permanent damage." Beth explained. Duane Lee also went to change his shirt.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked her.

"Leland has a wound on the corner of his eye, but nothing else."She said like it was something that happened every day.

"Did you get the fugitive?" The big question of the day. They did not, but they would try again, early in the morning.

Leland came from the bathroom with a towel stained in blood on his face. He sat down on the couch, not bothering to put anything on. When he took the towel off I could see that the wound he had on his face was still bleeding. A bit scared, I went quickly to the medicine box and took out band aids and disinfection liquid. I went to sit down next to Leland.

"Here, let me."

"I'm fine." He insisted, rubbing his eyes.

"Shut up." I told him, and surprised he did shut up. "Let me get the mace out of your eyes first."

Taking care of people who had hurt themselves was nothing new to me. I was always the mama who took care of wounds or sicknesses, no matter the fact that I was pretty much always the youngest. I guess I felt like I needed to make up for being useless otherwise.

I got a big cup of pure, cold water from the kitchen and went to sit next to Leland. The closeness of his bare upper body and his face made my shake a little bit. I put a paper towel in the water and squeezed the water gently from the paper towel to Leland's eyes. Sometimes I needed to force the eyes to keep open, so that the water could get in and wash away the mace. When it seemed to get better, I cleaned Leland's face from the blood as well as the wound and put a couple of butterfly closures to the corner of his eye.

"There" I said quietly, making sure the wound was taken care of. I smiled to him, and went to clean my hands from the blood.

"Thanks" he said after me.

"You're welcome. Just make sure I don't have to do this every night."

Back home, in my bed, sleep didn't come. I thought about how close to him I had been, nursing him. It made me shiver. I tried and tried and tried, but I just couldn't get it out of my head.


	8. Chapter 8

The team had already left to chase Keanu Iona, who they missed yesterday, when I arrived at work. I didn't know how long they had been gone, or when they would be back; the chase could take minutes or hours. To spend time I went through the cases that had popped up on my fax machine during the night and early morning, and prepared the information for them. One of the cases had made it to the most wanted list. Despite the dangerous records and the fighting he still would be an easy case for the team, I was sure.

Everyone of the family was all just fine when they came back, and the fugitive had been captured in just a couple of minutes. It had been easy for them. What was not easy was seeing Leland, let alone look him in the eye when he was talking to me. I cursed it to myself when I was alone because I hate being so weak, but that was the simple truth. He makes my heart skip a beat. It was funny, because two weeks ago I would have done anything to make him stop following me. I hadn't fallen for him, but I had to admit that he was..hot. I tried my hardest not to blush or shake around him. It was damn difficult, too difficult.

What made it even worse, was Beth's suggestion later that afternoon.

"Katie, what would you say if we put you to the training with the boys?" she said to me, like we would have been talking about the weather. "Just some self defense skills and physical training." Beth putting me to training meant two things. First of all, I would be allowed to come in to the hunts when I was considered ready. Second, even though I was able to do the physical training and running by myself, defense skills training meant many sweaty and hot sessions with Leland, the martial arts expert. Yet my will to participate in the hunts out-weighted the awkwardness.

"Yes, of course." I said soon. That made Beth happy.

"Great! We have a good nice gym right around the corner there, let me just tell the owner that you work with us so he won't charge you." she said and was already on her way to handle the business matters. The boys appeared next to me.

"Want to start tonight?" Duane Lee asked. Shit. What was I supposed to do? I was not mentally prepared for the training to start right now, but obviously I couldn't say _'no, thanks, but I need to get over my emotions towards your younger brother first_'.

"Tonight it is" I answered, trying to sound happy. I was in deep, deep trouble.

"Leland has a match tonight, but we could do the work out before that, help him to get ready." _A match?_ I had to act like I would know what Duane Lee was talking about, but as soon as he left I ran to the computer and googled the matches of tonight. I found his name in one of the participant lists. Kick boxing, oh joy.

That evening I left work early, around six. I went home quickly, ate something and went for a run. I didn't run as fast or as long as I could have, because I wanted to save my strength. I did not know what to expect from the work out. After the run I went to the gym. It was high-class and modern gym with machines I had not ever seen, nor knew how to use them. I headed for the mat, which I thought would be a safe choice. I could do my stretching, push-ups and abdominal work out there by myself before the guys came.

I had about thirty, forty minutes to work out on the mat before I saw the boys come from the doors. They waved at me and went to change their clothes. I had to take deep breaths and many nice gulps of my water bottle to calm me down just a bit.

The boys were both wearing black, which did not surprise me at all.

"We will go easy on you, 'cause it's your first time and all." Leland said, smirking. His brother went for the punching bag, and I was left alone with the champion. I was sure he could see my heart beating in my chest, through my red training top. He led me back to the mat, and took boxing gloves.

"Put these on, and hit me." _Um, what?_ That came quite straight forward.

"You want me to hit you?"

"Yeah, and as hard as you can. You won't be able to hurt me, trust me." I looked anxiously at his eye, where his wound was still fresh and red.

"Don't aim for the head." he said when he saw me looking.

"Damn" I whispered, joking.

"Aim for the hands." He put up his hands around the level of his chest, and I was supposed to hit them. "Take your position."

I lifted my hands up to cover my chin. It was the defending position I had seen on TV, when I was young and still lived in New York.

"Good" Leland said. "Now hit the hands so that your punches are crossed. Like, if you hit with your right hand, aim for my right, from your point of view to the hand that's on the left. Not straight, but crossed." So I punched. I did not give it all I had, obviously. Why would I want to hit him as hard as I could? And besides it was mostly his nicely built arms and his solid chest that I focused on, instead of the punch.

"Good, nice punch. Now try the same some effort." he smirked. That smirk made me want to knock out his teeth to make his face uglier and easier to look at, but something told me that would not change a damn thing. So instead of the chin, I hit the hands.

"Way better. Now with the other hand."

This sort of punching exercise went on for while. Sometimes he would want me to hit his hands near his chest, sometimes he would lift his hands near his chin. When this was the case, there was no way I was gonna hit hard. He said that the point of the chest-level punches were to teach me how to get power in the punch. The reality was that in the field, while hunting someone, it usually is no use to hit someone in their chest. That's why I shouldn't be unfamiliar to hitting people in the face.

"Right, now. Next time we can speed things up a little bit for you." he said when we were finishing for the day. He needed to get ready for his match. He said bye to me, and pushed me a little to my shoulder. It tried to hit him back but he was too quick for me. He laughed, and I smiled a little. He even had to turn back around to see that I was actually smiling, because he wasn't sure if he should believe what he saw.

Duane Lee came to help me with the boxing gloves.

"Want to come and see the match?" he asked. He was going to cheer his brother. This match was no important one, so the rest of the family stayed home.

"I think I'd better go home and hit the showers." I said.

"Alright, see you tomorrow then, champ." he said and rushed after his brother.

I went to change my clothes, took my stuff and started walking home. Then the curiosity came over me. The match arena was not far...maybe I could take a look. A tiny sneak peak, just a minute or two. I turned left instead of right, where my home was and looked for the arena for a while. I did have to ask someone for instructions, but after that the place was easy to find.

The match hadn't started yet. It was a big room, rather than an arena, and there was a simple boxing ring in the middle. There were some people, about a hundred, watching. The contestant was already in the ring. He looked about the same size than Leland, which was quite a relief. I stood at the door, behind Duane Lee who was standing next to the ring, waiting for his brother to come. And soon he did.

The match begun slowly, neither of the competitors wanted to punch first. The other guy did, eventually, but Leland was able to duck, and hit back. He kept hitting him to his middle torso and earned himself a nice good punch to the head. They were wearing helmets, but that punch was enough for me. I left the arena, praying that he would be fine in the morning.


	9. Chapter 9

Leland was fine after the match. He had a big, nasty bruise in where his neck meets his shoulders, but he said the other guy looked worse. That was probably not true, but I just giggled and made no comments. Let him brag and feel good about it. He had won, after all.

We had to take a short pause in our training because he needed time to recover and secretly I felt sad about it. But in the mean time I had to take the most out of the time I saw him in the office. I glanced at him every now and then, smiled and laughed to his every joke. And after every laugh I felt disgustingly girly, and stupid. I never considered myself to be the type that some random guy could make me do silly things. Then again the guys that I knew before were pathetic junkies and drunks who changed clothes when the original color was long forgotten. No wonder I never did anything silly for them.

I sat at my desk, staring at my diary, wondering if it would be dangerous to write some thoughts in it while I was at the office. But I figured that from my seat it would be easy to tell if someone was approaching, so I would have time to put the book down. I opened it, and marked the date in the upper left corner.

_Dear diary,_

_I know that this is risky, writing at the office, but—_

That was the only thing I had time to write, before Leland jumped to the arm chair that faced my desk. I closed the diary immediately, and stared at him staring at me. There were no bounties for the day, so he had to make the time go by in some other way. Obviously he had just decided to use me as entertainment.

"What?" I asked, kindly enough not to insult him, but roughly enough for him to realize that I was not a huge fan of people staring without a reason.

"You are blushing." he said, taking a better posture at the chair.

"I'm not" I insisted. _Now I am._

He smiled, exited. "Was that your _diary_?" I put the black book to my bag and the bag between my legs under my table, so that it would be far away from his reach.

"No." I told him, lies, lies, lies. Not that I would have expected him to believe.

"Yeah it was. Let me see."He hopped off from the chair and walked to my table.

"Like that's ever gonna happen" I told him and turned away, acting like I had a folder or a case I needed to work on, urgently. He stopped right in front of the desk and crossed his hands to his chest.

"Is there something about me?" he asked. I cursed in my mind for being so obvious. If I wasn't blushing before, I surely was as red as a tomato now.

"There's something about everyone" I defended myself, talking the truth. The last thing I would want him to know was the things I had been writing about him and his smile.

"What did you write about me?" he kept asking while leaning forward on the desk. "Did you write about how cool I am? And funny, and awesome?"

"Yeah, I did." I was in with the game.

"Yeah? And that I'm the best bounty hunter you have ever met?"

"That too" I nodded. "I also wrote how much I love your cockiness, and your pride, and that I just _adore_ how you put your pretty little nose into places that pretty little noses should never go even near."I was referring to the lovely picture he and his brother had taken on my camera some time ago. He got the hint. I smirked as he raised his hands into the air as a sign for giving up.

"Okay, okay!"he backed away, but before he was out of the back door, he turned to me once more. "Can't I just have a little sneak peak? Like a real tiny one?"

I threw my pen at him as an answer, and he literally ran out of the door.

I won this time, but it was a sure thing I would never ever bring my diary into the office again, and that I would get a lock to my drawer and keep the book hidden there at all times.


	10. Chapter 10

_**I just wanted to thank you guys for reading, commenting and supporting the story! I have the whole story ready on my computer with about 15 unpublished chapters left, and all of them will be posted here sooner or later. Stay tuned ;) -T**_

Chapter 10

The days past. Our training was going well, and my knees were not as weak as they had been before, not during the practice. But then I went home to bed and just simply couldn't shake the image of him, his smile and him being so close to me every night.

The days turned into weeks. They all seemed the same, but the same felt exiting every day. I spend the day at the office, while the team was hunting down criminals. After work I went for a run, did my independent training and then my work out with Leland. I learned to kick, hit harder and how to get loose from the enemy's grip. I learned how to use the enemy's weight against him, which was a crucial advantage. I got better, faster and stronger, not just physically but mentally too.

This morning started like any other would. The arrest warrant came to my computer and the team gathered to discuss the fugitive and what might be the best plan to catch him. They decided to use baits.

And they decided to use me.

"Katie, come here for a second, love." Dog called me to the parking lot, when they were about to leave. "Leland says that you are ready." he told me, with a serious look on his face. "Do you want to come?"

"Yes!"I said loudly, before thinking.

"Hah ha, okay then. Now listen carefully."

The plan was to use the player part in the fugitive against him. Me and Lyssa would be the baits, trying to get the guy from his apartment to the yard, where it would be easier to catch him. Sounded like a quite an easy plan, to me. Dog brought me a small can of mace to put in my purse, just in case. It was not smart to dress us up in weaponry clothing, since that would be suspicious, so Dog advised me to use the mace immediately when I felt insecure or in danger.

It was only in the car when I started questioning myself. I sure was stronger than weeks ago, and I knew stuff that would help me, but what if? What if I will freeze? Or do a mistake that will put as all in risk? I watched out from the window while we were driving to the scene. I was in the same care with Duane Lee and Lyssa. Lyssa tried to explain the ideas she had, and I should've listened because she was way more experienced than I was, but somehow every word she said, I missed.

"Katie?" she called my name when she saw I was not listening. "Kate!"

"Um, yeah?" I turned to her. She took my hand.

"You will be just fine. Nothing is going to happen to you." she said in her quiet, calming voice. I nodded.

"Could you please repeat what you said?" I asked humbly, now ready to listen to her plan.

"2 minute warning" came loudly from Lyssa's radio. It was time to rock and roll, as Dog said.

Me and Lyssa stepped out of the car and headed for the last known address. We went up the stairs, and looked through the window if we could see anyone. Lyssa knocked on the door once, then for the second time.

A guy came to the door. He was Hawaiian, but not too tall or too big.

"Hi, me and my friend here are looking for Jay." she said, confident. I just stood there silent. The man looked at both of us, suspicious.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Are you him?" Lyssa continued. She knew it was. "Is that your car, down the road, the green one?" Again, she knew that the car was his. "We bumped into it. Come see the damage, so that we can settle on a price." This Jay looked behind her to his car. He nodded, closed the door and removed the safety chain. He stepped outside.

"That's him! Get ready" suddenly came out from Lyssa's radio, even though she had hidden it under her hoodie. She had forgotten to turn it to mute. Jay knew instantly what was going on, and bolted. We all ran after him, but lost him.

"Damn it, Lyssa!" Dog told her daughter.

"I'm sorry! I just forgot it!" she tried to defend herself. In the end, even though they tried to find Jay, they didn't stand a chance against the setting sun and the decreasing amount of sun light. They had to get back to the office.

After saying good night to everyone, I left to go home. It was dark, but the route was short and easy. Usually.

I was about halfway through when I felt someone grab my hand tight. I turned around and saw a dark figure, nothing more. I tried to get the mace that was still in my bag, but turning around so quickly had made me drop the bag. The man hit me to the ground, hard.

"You set me up today, tried to get me to jail. I won't come that easily, you bitch."

I hurt my hand in the fall but aimed for my bag. He kicked it away, and me after that. The blow took my breath away, he hit right to my stomach. I tried to get away from him, but he always got me. He lifted me up by holding my injured arm, and the pain as horrible. He pushed me against a big tree and hit me in the face with his palms. Then he unbuttoned my jeans and did things no one should ever experience.

He left me lying in the street walk, crying for my pain. I barely made it back home. I had a chance to lock the door and walk to my living room before I passed out.


End file.
